Risk Assessment of a Wind Turbine: A New FMECA-Based Tool With RPN Threshold Estimation

Marcantonio Catelani,Gabriele Patrizi,Diego Galar,Lorenzo Ciani

doi:10.1109/access.2020.2968812

Marcantonio Catelani, Gabriele Patrizi + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2020.2968812

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Abstract

A wind turbine is a complex system used to convert the kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy. During the turbine design phase, a risk assessment is mandatory to reduce the machine downtime and the Operation & Maintenance cost and to ensure service continuity. This paper proposes a procedure based on Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis to take into account every possible criticality that could lead to a turbine shutdown. Currently, a standard procedure to be applied for evaluation of the risk priority number threshold is still not available. Trying to fill this need, this paper proposes a new approach for the Risk Priority Number (RPN) prioritization based on a statistical analysis and compares the proposed method with the only three quantitative prioritization techniques found in literature. The proposed procedure was applied to the electrical and electronic components included in a Spanish 2 MW on-shore wind turbine.

Highlights

Wind energy is one of many renewable energy sources that offer an alternative to burning fossil fuels [1] and is one of the most widely used sources of renewable energy [2]
In compliance with WindEurope, the European Union (EU) is moving toward renewable energy sources, with hundreds of billions invested in renewable energy development and many new installations
FMECA METHODOLOGY FOR ONSHORE WIND TURBINE Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) is a systematic procedure to identify potential failure modes, their causes, and their effects on system performance [14]

Summary

Introduction

Wind energy is one of many renewable energy sources that offer an alternative to burning fossil fuels [1] and is one of the most widely used sources of renewable energy [2]. Wind energy is popular because of the lower investment cost and well-developed technology compared to the other renewable energy sources [3]. In compliance with WindEurope, (i.e. the Association for Wind Energy in Europe), the European Union (EU) is moving toward renewable energy sources, with hundreds of billions invested in renewable energy development and many new installations. About 95% of all new EU power installations in 2018 were for renewable energy: 19.8GW out of a total 20.7GW of new power capacity [4]. To put this into context, in the last ten years, coal and natural gas have been the main form of power generation in Europe, each with a total installed capacity of 150GW to 200GW [4].

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